Hannah, Amber Wood deliver for Princeton

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on March 22, 2009 2:00 AM

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Offense was hard to generate, but frustration abounded in limitless supply Friday afternoon.

Princeton and Eastern Wayne struggled to create offense, but the Bulldogs manufactured a fourth-inning run that held up in their 1-0, non-conference softball win at New Hope.

Amber Wood reached base on an error and took second on a wild pitch. Hannah Wood lined a one-out, RBI single to center field to tally the game's lone run.

Princeton (3-2 overall) finished with just two hits.

"We're just struggling with the bat," said Bulldogs head coach Terry Braswell. "We have all year."

Eastern Wayne (3-4) couldn't connect against starting pitcher Traci Bridgers throughout the game. The Warriors put runners on base with two outs in the four of the seven innings, but couldn't deliver. It was their second straight shutout loss.

"We could never piece hits together back to back," said Warriors head coach Tony Parrish. "It's very, very frustrating. It seems like a week ago against Greene Central in a 14-inning game they were all hitting and the ball was the size of a basketball. Now, it's the size of a golf ball."

Bridgers scattered five hits, recorded eight strikeouts and didn't allow a walk in a complete-game effort.

"Traci's coming along nicely," said Braswell. "We're expecting big things out of her."

Morgan Smith started on the mound for Eastern Wayne. She allowed one unearned run on one hit with one walk, and no strikeouts over four innings of work. Lani Fricks pitched two scoreless innings of relief.

Casey Mitchell, Caitlin Turner, Smith, Hannah Grantham and Dashonique Bristow each had hits for Eastern Wayne.

The Warriors visit Wilson Beddingfield on Tuesday, while Princeton travels to Southern Wayne on Wednesday.